Today, I want to talk about one particular Selfie varietal: The Duckface. Specifically, I want to talk about the architecture of the Duckface and how it becomes the symbolic locus of control over feminine bodies within the context of compulsory visibility.[i]

To begin, here are a few definitions of Duckface from Urban Dictionary:

A term used to describe the face made if you push your lips together in a combination of a pout and a pucker, giving the impression you have larger cheekbones and bigger lips.

Stupid facial expression put forth by stupid women that don’t know how to smile. The Duckface is made by moving both lips as far up and outward as possible. Commonly seen in photos of slutty women where the lighting is too high up or they’re taking photos of them self in the mirror.

A facial expression utilized by attention-seeking teenage girls in which they push their lips outward and upward to give the appearance of large, pouty lips.

Having established what the Duckface is, let’s take a moment and think about what the Duckface does. Specifically, let’s think about what it does to the face. As is clear from these definitions, one performs the Duckface by sucking in the cheeks and pushing out the lips. This makes the lips appear fuller, the cheekbones more prominent, and the eyes wider. It can also minimize asymmetry when taken from the correct angle. In short, this expressive configuration contorts the face in line with standards of feminine beauty.

Although one might employ the Duckface in any type of photograph, it is most commonly associated with the Selfie, or a self-composed photograph of the self, usually using a mirror and/or front facing camera. This is a photographic product in which the subject becomes hyper-visible and, when shared through social media, open to comment and critique. This moment of hyper-visibility, importantly, must be contextualized by a larger culture of compulsory visibility.

The ease of self-documentation, the norm of frequent sharing, and the interconnectedness between representations of self and documentary practices of others, work to craft an environment in which the self is unavoidably on display. Within this context, the Selfie becomes a way to claim representational control, to be at once the artist and the subject, to manage inevitable visibility with self-directed hyper-visibility. And yet, this moment of reclaimed representation simultaneously becomes a moment of scrutinization, as the media through which subjects share their hyper-visible images afford comment and explicit evaluation. What women doin this hyper-visible and evaluative moment is deeply telling. And whatDuckfacing women do is contort the face into a caricature of femininity.

The propensity to utilize such a facial contortion, one that renders the face acceptably feminine, is rooted in a cultural value system in which physical beauty is deeply connected to self-worth. And yet, displaying this acceptably feminine mask comes at a cost. Indeed, the Duckface is the target of much social derision. For instance, there is an anti-Duckface Tumblr, an anti-Duckface Facebook coalition, and anti-Duckface memes galore.

We see a tension, then, between the felt need for proper feminine bodily performance, and the devaluation of those who engage in this performance.

The Duckface is therefore both a product and a site of feminine control. It is forged through standards of beauty, made all the more relevant in an era of photographic disclosure, and then punished for its inauthenticity, for its effortful display of that which is supposed to be effortless. The Duckfacing woman becomes a conspicuous symbol of how sexism, patriarchy, and misogyny work upon the body. However, instead of confronting sexism, patriarchy, or misogyny, we confront the symbol in its own right. We punish the woman who contorts her face, admonish her for showing us, through her pouty lips and artificially protruding cheekbones, what a controlled body looks like.

[i] I look specifically at the architecture of the Duckface. For a broader discussion of Selfies and control over the feminine body, see @anneLBurns excellent presentation from the #TtW14 pics panel, linked in the first paragraph above.

Comments 13

DumbDowner — May 13, 2014

The average human is more concerned about visual appearance of everything than they need to be at this stage in human evolution and societal evolution.

Perhaps some of this control of a woman's body isn't what it seems. As a male, I care as much about a woman's visual appearance as she cares about her own appearance. The more time a woman spends obsessing over her own appearance, the more she sends me the message that it's all she has to offer.

PJ Patella-Rey — May 13, 2014

Video of the "Pics: Sex and the Selfie" panel from #TtW14 is available here:

http://youtu.be/bKqSeXi-0gk

Anne Burns — May 13, 2014

It's interesting how the duckface has become *the* caricature of femininity, when one considers how many other potential targets this discourse could have. The tongue stuck out, the winking eye, the mouth seductively open - these are all common facial expressions associated with feminine desirability, so what is it about the duckface - and more importantly the threat of duckface - that makes it so abject?

Glad you liked the presentation btw! :)

HoldSher — May 13, 2014

Love this post. Ditto makeup, Spanx, etc., right?

In the final paragraph, you make the point I sometimes - with a nerdy apology - teach my students as, "Don't hate the player, hate the game."

jemmy — May 13, 2014

If someone chooses to portray themselves as vapid and narcissistic, that's their own choice. It's condescending to make excuses for them, as if "sexism" eliminates their agency.

This highly scientific exploration of Duckface just made my day - Krempita.net : Krempita.net — May 14, 2014

[…] Causes and Consequences of the Duckface » Cyborgology Having established what the Duckface is, let’s take a moment and think about what the Duckface does. Specifically, let’s think about what it does to the face. As is clear from these definitions, one performs the Duckface by sucking in the cheeks and pushing out the lips. […]

Links: 05/16/14 — The Radish. — May 16, 2014

[…] Causes and Consequences of the Duckface […]

How I (sorta) stopped worrying and (kinda) learned to love the selfie » Cyborgology — July 18, 2014

[…] as Jenny Davis has noted, the duckface itself is a kind of control over the form and presentation of the bodies we gender […]

Cyborgology Turns Four » Cyborgology — October 27, 2014

[…] Causes and Consequences of the Duckface by Jenny Davis […]

Kay — February 27, 2015

To me, it just makes the duckface look stupid,vapid, and desperate. I have also noticed that a lot of women, particularly in acting, have plumped their lips up to have a round hole in between top and bottom line when lips are in natural position. I guess they got lip injections to seem sexy, but to me it looks like someone whose lips are offering a BJ.

Why are these women so obsessed with being sexy -- or a caricature of sexy. Reflects a teenage mindset -- and in those women who are adults, they simply haven't advanced very far beyond adolescent narcissism.

Whenever I see duckface pout or fat or plumped out lips, my respect and regard for that person falls. Consider Andi Dorfman, the lead of the Bachelorette. She's stunning and bright and yet posts duck face all over her social media, reducing herself to a narcissistic, vapid twit.

The front runners on the current Bachelor do this too. Whitney's natural resting face forces her lips into a pout and Kaitlyn either has a hare lip or has undertaken plastic surgery to perfect her trout pout, which forms in her natural resting postion - she sits there puckering and pouting....

And then you have Jade, the porn star, who appears on this show, puckering and pouting by intention while licking her lips constantly.

Makes these girls looks slutty, which is not a good look on anyone....It's the basest, most animalistic level of sex, stripped of all high mindedness, class, and dignity. I think this is why the trout pout/pucker in selfies is disturbing to more high minded, moral people as it broadcasts promiscuity and a desperate "look at me!" sexuality

Little girls in their teenage girls who are just discovering their sexuality probably don't know any better. Women who engage in these sort of antics and practices and who go under the knife to sport this ridiculous look are to be pitited.

I agree that it is a caricature of femininity -- though I don't see the selfie pucker/pout as necessarily feminine but a way of broadcasting one's sluttiness and promiscuity, making it more of a masculine representation in female form. Aren't women traditionally chaste and modest? These women, in contrast, advertise an in-your-face sexuality. It advertises that they are all about sex and that they want to entice the audience -- the millions of viewers online -- to want them and believe, in some porn fantasy type of way, that they want the viewers in return....."Look at me! I'm ready for sex, kissing, anything."

I don't see how trout pouts enhance cheekbones...You either have cheek bones or you don't....All of us can affect cheekbones by trout pouting or simply maintaining our weights....Trout pouts are a way of broadcasting one's narcissism, promiscuity, and stupidity before the world. Once upon a time women were ashamed to broadcast their sluttiness. Now they are proud of it. Not a good look.

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We live in a cyborg society. Technology has infiltrated the most fundamental aspects of our lives: social organization, the body, even our self-concepts. This blog chronicles our new, augmented reality.